summer seminar

Flagler College Associate Professor of Art History Dr. Chris Balaschak was recently selected to attend a seminar at the Yale Center for British Art focused on “Landscape and Identity in Britain and the United States, 1770-1914.”

The seminar is organized by The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and will be held between July 24 to 28 in New Haven, Conn.
“Part of my interest in going is to learn more about the pedagogical role of the Flagler art collection (most of which is in the Flagler Room),” Balaschak said. “I’ve used it in my teaching, and for student research and writing projects. We actually have fairly limited information on Flagler’s collection. While at Yale, I am hoping to gain a broader context for the material we have on campus in such a way as to benefit my classes and scholarship.”
Balaschak received his doctoral degree in 2010 from the program in Visual Studies at University of California, Irvine, and his bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1998. Dr. Balaschak specializes in the history of photography, contemporary art and visual culture. His research looks at how ‘photography in print’ (books, essays, ephemera) constructed an American sense of place during the mid-20th century. The legacy of American social documentary photography, the political context of the Cold War, and the socio-economic conditions of post-industrialism are common themes in his writing. His work has recently appeared in several different books, including “Paper Cities: Urban Portraits in Photographic Books” (Leuven University Press), “Conflict, Identity and Protest in American Art” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), and “Truth in the Public Sphere” (Lexington Books).
According to CIC, the week-long course at Yale will address British and American landscape painting in a global context. Seminar participants will view major works of art at the Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Art Gallery, and will take trips to New York City to view the great collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Hudson River Valley, a favored subject among American landscape painters; a visit to Olana, the home of painter Frederic Church; and to the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.
For more information on the seminar, click here.